Portugal has a total of 477 public secondary schools. Some date from the end of the 19th century but the majority were built after 1970, reflecting the period of expansion in the school network and the extension of compulsory schooling. The schools are heterogeneous in terms of building types, architectural features and quality. An assessment of…

The government of New Zealand delegates property expenditure decisions to each individual school. Such a decentralised environment creates a challenge for school boards and principals to obtain advice on the complex issues around designing schools. To inform schools, the Ministry of Education provides numerous publications related to design and…

New Zealand's special funding system allows state schools a greater level of independence in managing their property compared to most other countries. Schools receive a fixed budget as an entitlement from the three "pots" of the educational property funding structure. The government's unique use of accrual accounting together with a new…

Since gaining independence in 1991, one of Slovenia's priorities has been to invest in education. The government has been investing its limited resources in the construction of buildings and their equipment, striving to provide quality, functional, flexible, and safe facilities. Much effort goes into searching for additional resources to invest in…

Belgium's Flemish government recently approved a EUR 1 billion investment in school infrastructure through public-private partnerships, its first major initiative of this kind. The Flemish Community's variant of public-private partnerships in school building allows the government to meet urgent needs in the short run, but also to spread the costs…

Many Latin American countries are undertaking projects, in line with practices disseminated by PEB, to share school facilities with the local community, to adapt traditional schools for students with disabilities, and to collaborate with private companies to finance educational buildings. The articles below describe current initiatives in five…

The poor condition of many schools and other educational buildings is giving rise to increasing concern in many countries that are members of the Organisation for Economic Development and Cooperation. The disparity between concern with deterioration of educational buildings and the failure to fund improvements and/or maintenance is referred to as…